Nagpur: Gadchiroli has emerged as the top-performing district in the state’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, achieving an impressive 82.16% voter mapping, the highest in Maharashtra as of March 29. The tribal district’s performance stands in sharp contrast to the sluggish progress recorded in major urban centres, highlighting a widening rural-urban divide in voter data updation.Close on Gadchiroli’s heels are districts like Hingoli (81.92%), Buldhana (77.32%), Parbhani (73.58%) and Nanded (73.57%), all of which have crossed the 70% mark, significantly outperforming the state average of 49.22%.In stark contrast, Nagpur finds itself among the bottom-ranked districts, with just 28.88% mapping, placing it 33rd out of 36 districts. The city’s performance mirrors a broader trend seen across urban Maharashtra, where districts such as Mumbai Suburban (24.41%), Pune (25.78%) and Thane (27.94%) are also struggling to keep pace.Nagpur’s lag becomes more pronounced when compared with state averages across key indicators. Its BLO verification rate stands at 28.82%, far below the state’s 48.98%, while self-marking by electors is just 18.06%, nearly half of the state average of 32.62%. Progeny marking (identification of new voters) remains critically low at 0.99%, compared to the state’s 5.29%.Despite the low overall coverage, officials note that Nagpur has achieved high verification consistency, with nearly all mapped electors verified by Booth Level Officers. However, the low participation rates suggest weak public engagement and operational bottlenecks.S
